Kia Motors Corporation Kia Motors Corporation Kia Motors Corporation Kia Motors Corporation Kia Motors Corporation was founded in 1944 and is Korea’s oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles. From humble origins making bicycles and motorcycles, Kia now produces more than three million vehicles a year from 14 manufacturing and assembly operations in five countries. These vehicles are sold and serviced through a network of distributors and dealers covering around 180 countries worldwide. Globally, Kia has over 50,000 employees and annual revenues of nearly US$44 billion. Global research, development and production In the company’s homeland of South Korea, Kia operates three major vehicle assembly plants at Hwasung, Sohari and Gwangju, as well as a world-class research and development centre employing around 12,000 vehicle development engineers and staff at Namyang. Kia’s Eco-Technology Research Institute near Seoul is working on next-generation hydrogen fuel-cell powertrains. Kia spends around 6% of its annual revenues on R&D, and also operates research centres in the USA, Japan and Germany. Kia operates a global network of manufacturing bases outside Korea, with advanced production facilities in the USA, Slovakia, China and Mexico.

Kia has a global production capacity of 3.5 million cars per year. Vehicles are built on flexible assembly lines which can manufacture several different models simultaneously to adapt to global changes in buying trends. In addition, Kia has a long history of building locally in a number of markets to meet the specific needs of local customers, with assembly operation using ‘car kits’ (supplied from Korea) in Ecuador, Iran, Malaysia, Russia, Uruguay and Vietnam. Design-led transformation Design forms a key part of Kia’s long-term plan to become one of the world’s leading automotive brands. The last decade has seen a design revolution at Kia, a shift which has fundamentally altered the way in which consumers around the world perceive Kia and its cars. Kia’s global network of design studios – in Korea, Germany and the USA – allow the company to keep in touch with consumer needs and trends. Headed by Peter Schreyer, President and Chief Design Officer of Kia Motors Corporation, the brand has established its own clear identity and has produced a number of modern, progressive new car designs as the Kia model line-up has expanded and developed.

A Different Beat: Kia brand awareness Kia has witnessed significant growth in the strength of its brand in recent years, the result of design-led product development and company-wide efforts to cultivate a more emotional attachment to Kia and its cars. According to the Interbrand’s 2016 ‘100 Best Global Brands’ study, Kia is now the 69th most valuable brand in the world, and is recognized by consumers all around the globe for its vibrant, distinctive and reliable range of cars. Official partnerships with the world’s most high-profile sporting events have provided additional momentum to the growth of the Kia brand. Sponsorship arrangements with FIFA, UEFA, NBA, LPGA and the Australian Open tennis championship allow the company to engage with young-at-heart target customers throughout the year. The Power to Surprise From its earliest days, Kia established a reputation as Korea’s automotive pioneer. The company was established in 1944, produced its first small car in 1974 and the first Korean-designed car in 1992. In 1993, Kia manufactured its three millionth vehicle – in 2016 alone, Kia produced and sold over three million cars.

Today, Kia Motors is a global force in the automotive industry, and is part of the Hyundai Motor Group, the fifth largest automotive manufacturer in the world. Kia’s brand slogan – ‘The Power to Surprise’ – represents the company’s global commitment to surprise the world by providing exciting and inspiring experiences that go beyond expectations. New production base in Mexico In 2016, Kia Motors opened its latest new production facility in Pesquería, Mexico, representing a US$1 billion investment by the company. The new manufacturing plant has an annual production capacity of up to 300,000 cars per year, taking Kia’s global manufacturing capacity to around 3.5 million vehicles. The high-tech Mexico production facility is capable of producing one car every 53 seconds, with 420 robots serving to automate a number of processes in the press, body and paint shops, as well as on the assembly line. By the end of 2017, the number of workers employed at the Pesquería facility will have risen to 3,000, with an additional 7,000 jobs created by supplier firms.

For more information, please go to 2011 KIA Sportage Review | CarAdvice 2011 KIA Sportage Review 04 Aug 2010 2011 KIA Sportage Review KIA is a car company destined for great things. In the last two years the Korean giant has (in collaboration with sister company Hyundai ) produced some of the best packages on sale today. 2009 saw over five million KIA/Hyundai vehicles sold and this week sees the line up expand with the introduction of the all-new third generation 2011 Kia Sportage . At first glance the new Sportage is not what you might expect from a KIA . In fact it’s not even remotely an Asian-looking car. It’s very much sporting a European look both front and rear. The design elements come from former-Audi designer Peter Schreyer ‘s KIA revolution which has already taken form on the Cerato and Sportage (and soon on the RIO and Optima). Despite Schreye’s influence, the Sportage was designed by one of KIA’s chief designers, Massimo Frascella who works at the KIA design centre in California.

When you have the likes of Schreyer and Frascella (who has previously worked for Jaguar and Aston Martin ) you begin to see why the Sportage looks so good. Frankly, it’s amazing how much looks can persuade opinion. It’s hard not to admire the Sportage for its clean, crisp modern design. The package could be perfect under the skin but if doesn’t appeal to the visual senses, it simply wont work. The KIA Sportage is based on the same platform as the Hyundai ix35. That means it shares the same overall dimensions as well as all engine and transmission systems. However it does use a completely different AWD system developed jointly between Magna and KIA (more on that later). The new Sportage marks the third generation of the SUV. Having originally launched in 1993, so far over 1.5 million buyers worldwide have taken one home. KIA expects the new model will find an additional 1.4 million buyers during its life cycle and given the overall package appears to be a certain winner on paper, it probably will. To celebrate the launch of the new KIA Sportage, the Korean company took the automotive media to Queenstown, New Zealand.

From here the program was destined to head to the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds but the weather Gods didn’t permit such a journey. Instead, our drive program took us for a four hour drive through the surrounding mountains of Queenstown and up twisty roads to the “snow farm”. If you’ve never been to New Zealand’s south island, I highly recommend you put it on your must-do-before-I-die list. To put the KIA Sportage into perspective, the Korean company has recently had the benefit of learning from Hyundai’s product launches in order to perfect its own. For example the recent Hyundai i45 launch resulted in criticism of the car’s ride across the board, KIA has taken this on board and will launch the replacement KIA Magentis (more likely to be called Optima) which shares the same platform as the i45, with a different suspension setup to fit our roads (no doubt Hyundai is also retuning the i45 for Australian roads as I write this). The story is the same with the Sportage. KIA representatives made a big point of how much work has gone into local tuning and suspension setup for the Australian market.

The company says it brought out KIA engineers for a four day, 1,700km drive across local and rural roads before finalising local suspension settings. This resulted in Australian delivered Sportages being equipped with the UK suspension tune (plus minor adjustments) as oppose to Korean suspension settings. This benefits us in many ways, the Sportage has a very smooth and compliant ride over our third-world quality roads. The new KIA Sportage is a good 90mm longer and 15mm wider than the previous generation but is also 60mm shorter. This results in a less box-like SUV look and a more aerodynamic, compact, go anywhere type vehicle. The Sportage takes the same engine choices as the Hyundai ix35, so the range starts with a 2.0-litre petrol with 122 kW and 197 Nm of torque which is upgradable to a 2.4-litre with 130 kW and 227 Nm (more is better).

Those looking for the latest generation diesel engine can be assured the Hyundai-Kia developed R2.0 is by far one of the best 2.0-litre diesel engine available today (yes, that includes offerings from the Germans). It puts out an enormous 135 kW of power and 393 Nm of torque. It will move the 1609 kg (kerb weight) Sportage from 0-100km/h in under 10 seconds. The base model 2.0-litre (which starts from $25,990) is basically for buyers interested in a car that will get them from A-B in style and with loads of practicality. It’s relatively underpowered and if money isn’t tight and if you think of driving as anything more than just a necessity, the 2.4-litre petrol or R2.0 diesel is a far better choice. It’s hard to pick between the 2.4-litre petrol and the R2.0 diesel.

Both engines offer similar levels of performance (the petrol is 0.1 second slower to 100km/h) but the diesel has better fuel economy, 7.5L of diesel per 100km as oppose to 9.2L of petrol per 100km. From a driving perspective the diesel does offer much more torque throughout the range and that means smoother acceleration and a better driving feel overall. However, the additional $3,000 premium for the diesel engine will take some time to recoup (but resell will be better for the diesel than the petrol). If it makes your life easier, the diesel variants are in short supply given the massive demand in diesel-loving Europe so a 2.-4L petrol may be the hassle-free choice. Our drive program started from the Sofitel Hotel in Queenstown, from here we drove around 50km of twisty mountain roads to the Cardrona Hotel. It’s easy to notice that the Sportage feels very stable, smooth and compliant on rough rouds. Our quick journey took us through a series of gravel and loose-surface roads that highlighted the car’s well-tuned suspension.

Driving around normal urban environments is simple and gearshifts from the six-speed automatic transmission are seamless (the 2.0-litre version is offered in a manual – this variant was not driven). The first driven variant was the 2.4-litre petrol and despite the initial feeling of “it’s not quick enough”, the more it’s driven to more you come to appreciate it. Yes, it’s not as torquey as the diesel but it performs the necessities rather well. It can overtake on the highway with ease, it accelerates out of corners without hesitation but does tend to think a little longer than one would expect about which gear it needs to be in. Our hour-long stop at the Cardrona hotel meant an introduction to Graeme Gambold who is in charge of the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds. Although we were not going to head that way for some snow-testing, the technical presentation went through the Sportage’s new Magna developed intelligent All-Wheel Drive system that differentiates it from the Hyundai ix35 . To cut the story short, Dynamax AWD is the next-generation in compact SUV AWD systems. It uses all the information from the car’s traction and electronic-stability program to distribute power to each wheel accordingly.

It can analyse data so quickly that it senses a slide on any wheel in just 150ms and sends power and torque to the appropriate wheels to compensate. It’s rather similar in theory to the Haldex system used in Volvo vehicles. In real-world conditions, it feels very similar to the ix35 in how it distributes power in a loose-surface situation. However, the Sportage does feel more assertive and confident around corners than its Korean brother. Technicalities aside, my co-driver and I headed up to the Snow Farm. This meant a 30 minute drive up a twisty, snow and ice covered mountain road without any barriers or safety nets. For those of you who are interested, this is the exact same road used for the “Race to the Sky” hillclimb which ran from 1998 to 2007. You may also remember that New Zealand rally driver Possum Bourne died on this exact same road. So then, one nasty slide and it would’ve been a goodbye-dive off the mountain. Nerves aside, our KIA Sportage conquered the mountain with ease, climbing the challenging road at speed, cornering smoothly and maintaining maximum traction at all times.

During the few little slides the Sportage’s array of computer systems instantly took control and fixed the situation. Up and down the mountain, Sportage felt more than capable of this task. From the inside, Sportage is a vast improvement over its predecessor. The cabin feels far more upmarket thanks to soft-plastics and clever interior design. Seats are comfortable and have enough lumbar support for long distance drives. One rather unique feature found in the top of the range Sportage Platinum is the ventilated driver’s seat which can cool or heat up the seat. It will be a life-saver in those hot summer days. The cabin ambience is very much European-inspired. It can be a little dark but thankfully it doesn’t suffer the tacky “buttons-everywhere” look. The stereo system, which worked first time when connecting natively with my iPhone, is a also great standard feature and provides more than adequate bass, treble and clarity. Safety is paramount and standard across the range. KIA believes the Sportage will have no issues achieving a five-star safety rating when it gets tested later this year.

All variants come with a mirrad of active-safety technology which includes: ABS, EBD, ESC (Electronic Stability Control), and HAC (Hillstart Assist Control) and DBC (Downhill Brake Control). SLi and Platinum variants also gain 130-degree wide-angle revere camera that displays through a clever LCD screen placed in the rear-view mirror. Active safety is assured thanks to six airbags (dual front airbags, dual front side airbags and full-length side curtain airbags). Before our flight back home, a 45 minute drive in the diesel was in order. This is by far the best model in the range, although on paper it’s not much quicker than the 2.4-litre petrol, it certainly feels like it. If you can afford the additional $3,000, this is the pick of the lot. The 2011 KIA Sportage hits the sweet-spot when it comes to exterior and interior design, engine performance, fuel economy, handling and interior practicalities. Perhaps the only real-world complaint I could justify in the short drive program was the lack of Bluetooth technology (simply not available). KIA says the issue will be sorted in the not so distant future.

No Sportage variants are available with Satelite Navigation either. The Sportage goes on sale this weekend. KIA Sportage Si 2WD Manual – $25,990 – 2.0L KIA Sportage Si 2WD Auto – $27,990 – 2.0L KIA Sportage SLi 4WD – $31,990 – 2.4L KIA Sportage Platinum 4WD – $35,990 – 2.4L KIA Sportage SLi 4WD – $34,990 – 2.0R diesel KIA Sportage Platinum 4WD – $39,990 – 2.0R diesel For specification information and official photo gallery click here . Cars, SUVs, Hybrids, Minivans & Crossovers | Kia Sportage All-New 2017 Kia Sportage. Conceived for urban adventure, the completely redesigned 2017 Sportage is the most extraordinary compact crossover on the road today.

With an imposing appearance, a rock-solid stance, an upgraded cabin, and the torque to take you wherever the journey leads you, the new Sportage is a stylish, bolder-than-ever standout in an otherwise utilitarian category. 5/8 Sorento The Perfect Getaway Vehicle. Redesigned to be sleek, strong, and adaptive to your needs, the 2017 Sorento has elegantly sculpted surfaces, more cabin space, and a wraparound dashboard for distinctive appeal. From finely crafted seating to intuitive advanced technologies, it’s the car you drive to seek out adventure. 6/8 Sedona Transform Your Drive. The 2017 Sedona is premium comfort with the power to transform. Aggressive and refined, it’s your getaway vehicle and lounge on the go. The Sedona is comfort for everyone, fitted with high-tech gadgets, like the Smart Power Liftgate, and available second-row First-Class Lounge Seating. From the spacious driver cockpit to the versatile Slide-N-Stow® seats, the Sedona is intuitive control and flexibility that keeps pace with you. 7/8 Soul Totally Transformed. More fun to drive, more advanced technology, more surprises.

We've packed almost everything into the 2017 Soul. Discover what's inside for yourself. 8/8 2005 Kia Sportage - AZCentral.com Review | Cars.com July 16, 2005 Share Ten years ago, Kia Sportage was a pioneer among sport utilities, blazing the trail for a whole generation of compacts. Undeniably cute and appealing, Sportage was a major hit among young drivers, who found a lot to like about its styling, four-wheel drive and, primarily, modest price tag. But the little truckette had significant warts: harsh ride, dicey handling, cramped interior and limited capabilities. Still, Sportage was the first major success for the South Korean automaker until production stopped three years ago in the face of strong competition. Sportage is back for 2005 and much improved. A near twin to Tucson by Hyundai, which now owns Kia, Sportage is bigger, roomier, more refined, better equipped and more powerful.In this hot part of the SUV market, Sportage now competes on equal terms with such popular compacts as Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner, Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Mitsubishi Outlander and Jeep Liberty.

Sportage carries a significant price advantage, with a well-equipped base LX model starting at $15,900. The top-end EX tested here came with all the goodies, including V-6 engine and four-wheel drive for just $21,990. Even the base model comes with a full complement of safety features, including side-curtain airbags and electronic stability control. Another plus is the strong warranty: five-year/60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper and 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain. All of which makes Sportage a strong contender in this increasingly popular SUV arena. - - - Here's how our featured car compares with others in its class.

Ford Escape XLT * Vehicle type: Five-passenger, four-door sport utility vehicle, all-wheel drive * Base price: $25,140 * Engine: 3-liter V-6, 200 horsepower at 6,000 rpm, 193 pound-feet of torque at $4,850 rpm * Wheel base: 103.1 inches * EPA rating: 18 city, 22 highway Honda CR-V EX4 * Vehicle type: Five-passenger, four-door sport utility vehicle, all-wheel drive * Base price: $22,650 * Engine: 2.4-liter inline 4,160 horsepower at 6,000 rpm, 162 pound-feet of torque at 3,600 rpm * Wheel base: 103.3 inches * EPA rating: 21 city, 26 highway - - - Price as tested: $21,990.

OPTIONS * All features standard in top EX package, including V-6 with automatic, full power features, power sunroof, fog lights, heated outside mirrors, leather shift knob and steering wheel, keyless remote, cargo cover, upgraded seat fabric. * Four-wheel drive adds $1,401 to $19,999 EX price. * Shipping, $590. - - - THE LOWDOWN PERFORMANCE: The 2.7-liter V-6 is fairly small but powerful enough to propel this 3,500-pound SUV to highway speeds with decent acceleration. The 173-horsepower engine sets up a harsh roar, however, even under moderate throttle. The competition offers more muscle, such as Escape's 200-horsepower V-6. Standard engine is a 140-horsepower, 2-liter four that comes with a five-speed manual or automatic. The four-speed automatic, the only transmission with the V-6, sometimes shifts sluggishly. DRIVABILITY: Compact SUVs overall have improved tremendously in driving characteristics, becoming more carlike with stable handling and control.

Sportage is right up there with the established models, with all-independent suspension built onto a unibody sedan chassis. Sportage comes standard with desirable electronic features, such as traction control, electronic stability control, anti-lock, all-disc brakes and brake-force distribution. Full safety air bags, including full side curtains, also come standard. STYLING: The body lines are clean and streamlined but pretty standard stuff. Sixteen-inch alloy wheels, roof rack and rear privacy glass come standard. INTERIOR: Here's where the value really shows. The fully equipped cabin looks and feels high-quality with attractive design and materials and loads of desirable features. The rear seat flops down easily to increase cargo capacity, and the audio system sounds good. Interior space is fairly roomy. BOTTOM LINE: Although Sportage seems redundant compared with the slightly bigger Kia Sorento, expect the bigger SUV to grow in size and luxury in coming years. Same thing for Hyundai, where Santa Fe is moving on up. 2011 Kia Sportage first drive - Roadshow 2011 Kia Sportage first drive CNET Car Tech gets a preview drive in the 2011 Kia Sportage.

Wayne Cunningham/CNET Kia's third-generation Sportage gets a new engine, new cabin tech, and a new look.Photo by Wayne Cunningham/CNET 14 2011 Kia Sportage (photos) Something unexpected is happening at Kia. The Korean car company released new models, updated others, and put hamsters in its commercials. We took a preview drive in the Sportage, Kia's small SUV that has undergone a radical restyling. With a base price of $18,295, the 2011 Sportage makes an economy play, and some of the car's appointments, such as hard plastics in the cabin, reflect that strategy. But other aspects of the car, such as the ride quality and handling, suggest something slightly more upscale. Think Honda when it ruled the economy roost. At its highest trim, and fully loaded, Kia says the price only gets to about $28k. At this level, the Sportage includes features such as dual-zone climate control, a heated and cooled driver seat, locking all-wheel-drive, and navigation.

Following a trend Kia set with the new Forte and Soul models, all Sportage trims come with a Bluetooth phone system that lets you dial by name using voice command and a USB port for iPod integration. Kia's new look On a typically foggy San Francisco summer morning, we stepped out of a presentation on the new Sportage to find the car we would spend the day driving waiting for us. Its smooth sides gave it a very modern look, and a clean break from Kia's past. A strip of LED parking lights gave the car a more upscale style than its price would suggest. This new wheel design appears on more than one new Kia model.Photo by Wayne Cunningham/CNET Kia's new design language was apparent in the grille, with its up and down tabs. Our EX trim model, the top trim, also sported 18-inch wheels, the gloss black paint in the angular cut-outs another unique new Kia signature style. The back of the car was smooth and nicely molded, but the high beltline along the sides and the thick C pillar, combining to create a fortresslike look, are an all-too-common sight amongst new cars.

Raising its high-tech flag, the car's smart key let us unlock the door by touching a button on the handle and start the engine with another button. We noted the hard plastics, but the cabin looked nicer than it felt. The steering wheel was the same style as in the Kia Sorrento we reviewed earlier, with buttons for the stereo and the Bluetooth phone system. No UVO yet The responsive flash-based navigation system included colorful maps, although only in 2D, with traffic information displayed over the roads. The LCD in the dashboard came with the navigation option, and served as a display for our music library, once we had connected an iPhone to the car. Navigation, phone, and audio menus on this screen all combine good usability and a nice aesthetic sense. Kia's new UVO system offers voice control over MP3 players, but won't be available for a few months.Photo by Wayne Cunningham/CNET But Kia disappointed us by not having its new UVO system ready. Based on Microsoft's automotive platform, UVO incorporates many of the features we've previously seen in Ford Sync. It integrates a variety of MP3 players with the car, enabling voice commands for playback.

It also has a gigabyte of onboard memory to which you can copy MP3 files from a USB drive. You can rip CDs to the onboard storage, although UVO lacks an onboard music database, and so can't automatically tag tracks from CDs unless they have a CD text file. Untagged CDs will just show up in the system as CD 1, CD 2, etc. UVO won't be available when the 2011 Sportage first hits showrooms, taking a couple of months to follow the first models out. But probably the biggest strike against it is that buyers will have to choose between UVO or the navigation system. Kia promises to integrate these systems in the future, but for the time being, consumers are left with a bad choice. A four-cylinder update There is little choice with the Sportage's power train, as a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine comes standard at all trims. But this engine is no slouch, with an output of 176 horsepower, making it even more powerful than the previous model's V-6.

The base model pairs this engine with a six-speed manual transmission, something not often seen among SUVs, but the LX and EX trims get a six-speed automatic. All-wheel drive is an option on the LX and EX trim vehicles. LX and EX Sportage models come with a six-speed automatic. The base model gets a six-speed stick.Photo by Wayne Cunningham/CNET Although our EX model with all-wheel drive didn't exactly roar when we pushed the ignition button, it took off into city traffic with a reasonable amount of power. The steering wheel felt good, with a thick, leather-lined rim. The transmission shifted smoothly through its six gears. Going over some rough pavement, the suspension softened the jolts reasonably well, without a lot of bouncing around. We particularly like the size of the Sportage in a dense urban area. It never felt ungainly, and the high seating position helps visibility on crowded streets. The electronic power steering offered a comfortable amount of resistance, and the turning radius proved tight enough for parking maneuvers. A backup camera, using the navigation LCD for its display, also helped while parking. In a Sportage without navigation, Kia says that the backup camera display would show in the rearview mirror.

But this camera is the only driver aid feature available in the Sportage, as features such as blind-spot detection have yet to appear on the option list. On the freeway, the Sportage handled the higher speeds well, and we were able to carry on a conversation and listen to music without being overwhelmed by road noise. The ride continued smooth, but in passing maneuvers we found the limits of the engine. Slamming down the gas pedal, the transmission kicked down, letting the engine run up to peak horsepower. The Sportage did not bolt forward dramatically, and a painful whine sounded from the engine compartment, but we were able to overtake and pass other cars. Although we didn't drive enough to test it, Kia claims fuel economy of 22 mpg city and 31 mpg highway for a front-wheel drive Sportage with the automatic transmission. But we did get to test the Sportage's handling on winding mountain roads. Although no track star, we were able to push the little Sportage reasonably fast in the corners. The car kept steady during these exercises, stabilizer bars preventing excessive body roll. The steering felt sharp, responding well to speedy turns.

We also made use of the transmission's manual mode, which let us hold gears up to high rpms without interference, although shifting involved the usual torque converter slushiness. The Sportage includes a locking diff, rare on all-wheel-drive vehicles.Photo by Wayne Cunningham/CNET The car we were driving had all-wheel drive, a new system from Magna called Dynamax. According to Kia, this system very quickly transfers torque from the front-biased drive to the rear wheels as needed. At the push of a button, you can also lock the drive ratio to 50/50, although this setting is intended for speeds less than 25 mph. With all-wheel-drive comes hill descent control. We did not have the opportunity to take the Sportage offroad, but going down one of San Francisco's steepest grades (31.5 percent), we engaged hill descent. It let the Sportage slowly crawl down the hill while we touched neither brake nor gas, making odd groaning sounds all the way. After a while, we got bored with the 5 mph pace and pushed the hill descent button again, relying on our own braking foot.

Kia Sportage Review | CarAdvice Kia Sportage Review The compact SUV benchmark under forty grand Less diesel clatter would be nice OUR RATING Model tested: Kia Sportage MY10 2.0 diesel SLi AWD, six-speed automatic transmission: $35,490 (Manufacturer’s List Price) Warning: Kia or anyone associated with Kia does not pay me, but by the time you finish reading this review, it may seem that way. The Compact SUV segment is the hottest game in town, and the standout player is the Kia Sportage CRDi. The second-generation Sportage was a big improvement over the first-generation model, but the third-and latest-generation Sportage might just as well have come from another planet, such is the gap between these two cars. Whatever Kia is paying Peter Schreyer to design its cars these days must seem like a bargain when you end up with the best looking vehicle in the most hotly contested automotive segment going. While Hyundai ’s hugely popular ix35 moved the compact SUV benchmark on by more than a few pegs, the latest Sportage changes the game completely.

It’s not just the standout styling that draws you to this car – although that’s a huge attraction (if I could only recall just how many punters have come over for a closer look) – it’s the way this thing drives that’s even more compelling. No wonder there’s a nine-month wait for one of these. Turns out that the folks in the US and Europe think the same as us, and the Sportage has exceeded sales forecasts by up to twenty-fold. I confirmed this with two large Kia dealerships in Sydney, and they tell me it’s a similar story with the ix35 diesel variants. After designing the iconic Audi TT , Schreyer has clearly brought the same passion and enthusiasm to Kia’s design department with such clear winners as Sportage, and more recently, the Kia Optima . As concepts go, there’s no mistaking the overall design as a product of the 2007 Kia Kue concept car shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Although different in so many ways, not the least of which has been the move from a coupe body to a more practical five-door design, all the major styling cues have been incorporated into the latest Sportage.

It’s quite an achievement to produce a car that so successfully incorporates all the key design cues of the concept without compromising the ‘must-have’ practicality of an SUV and their inherent load carrying capacity. It doesn’t seem to matter what point of view you look at the Sportage from, there are no bad angles. Every panel and every accent is pleasing to the eye. The high belt line and low profile glass around the car give way to an overall sporty look SUV, and that’s exactly what Schreyer had in mind when he said: “We’ve created a car with a sports car-like ratio between sheet metal and glass. The side windows are very narrow which gives you an almost rally car feeling. Follow the shoulder and roof lines and they meet at the striking reverse angled C-pillar”. While Sportage might be easy on the eye as far as compact SUVs go, features like the large door handles, plastic cladding along the bottom of the door panels and wheel arches, along with the roof rails and ride height suggest a certain ruggedness and off-the-beaten-track capability.

Photographing the Sportage from the rear gives the appearance of a smaller vehicle than Hyundai’s ix35 yet they’re built on the same platform, and without looking at the individual measurements of both cars, there seems to be little in it when it comes down to cabin space. It’s just that the low roofline of the Sportage makes it seem smaller than it really is. That said there’s a stack of room inside the cabin and excellent leg and headroom for a car in this class. There’s no problem with three adults in the rear seat row, especially with a completely flat floor for extra comfort. Sportage is a milestone model for Kia, as it’s the first production vehicle that Peter Schreyer has put his name to (as in he oversees the design team), and it signifies the launch of the new global design DNA for the brand. You won’t be disappointed with the interior in the Sportage either, as the same breakthrough design language has also been applied throughout the cabin. The dashboard is split into three distinct layers using three different plastics, which all have a semi-premium look and feel to them, but disappointingly, none of these are the soft touch kind.

It’s probably the only criticism I can level at this car, and in the scheme of things, it’s just a blemish. The switchgear layout and functionality is both uncluttered and dead easy to operate, so you won’t need to refer to the owner’s manual. The tone and base from the standard-fit six-speaker sound system is surprisingly good, although both the Si and SLi trim levels miss out on Bluetooth music streaming, which is a bit of a pain, but there is a direct connector lead for an iPhone or other MP3 players. The mid-spec SLi Sportage also misses out on a start/stop button and the very cool LED Daytime Running Lights (they look sensational), but thankfully gets the reversing camera, which ingeniously appears in the left hand side of the rear vision mirror whenever you engage reverse gear. Kia looks to have benchmarked Land Rover’s Freelander 2 , when it comes to the driving position in the Sportage. It even refers to it as “the command drive position” in the original press kit, and it’s not far off it either.

Although you don’t really need to climb up into the Sportage as is the requirement for many four-wheel drive vehicles, from behind the wheel it feels like you’re sitting high above the traffic in front, but at the same time, the impression is that you’re sitting deeper into the car rather than on top. It’s a unique driving position that inspires confidence and security for the driver, and was once the private domain of Land Rover but has since been replicated by other manufacturers in varying degrees. Only the Platinum model gets the leather seats but there’s nothing wrong with the cloth-covered pews; they are incredibly comfortable and supportive with a clever design that provides side bolster from top to bottom. In keeping with the skew towards sports styling, you’ll especially like the thick-rimmed small-diameter steering wheel, which is a treat when you marry it up to such adept handling as the Sportage possesses. Despite the fact that Kia offers two perfectly good petrol engines (2.0L and 2.4L) with dual CVVT from $26,490, the nine-month wait is for the pricier 2.0-litre diesel, and for a few very good reasons.

With 135kW and just under 400Nm, this Sportage is the pick of the model line up. There is oodles of grunt down low as you would expect, as well as plenty of mid-range torque for safe overtaking and hill climbing duties. That said, if you jump on the throttle quick enough, there’s still some turbo lag despite the addition of a Variable Geometry Turbocharger (VGT). 0-100km/h in 9.6 seconds is a good effort for a 2.0-litre diesel, but where I’m not quite sold is the level of diesel clatter inside the cabin when accelerating. I’ve checked this with my colleagues and they have a different opinion, but from my perspective Kia can improve on that front by further suppressing engine noise in the diesel. I suggest there is little if any improvement necessary in the handling department, Kia engineers have well and truly got that sorted. In fact, I’d be more than comfortable in saying that Sportage offers class-leading handling and ride. Put that down to five months of testing and evaluation by a product development team whose sole concern was to calibrate the ride and handling for Australian roads and drivers.

The hydraulic power steering provides superb feedback in all conditions, and there is plenty of weight from dead centre, making the Sportage a joy to drive around town or on the highway. Turn in is crisp and there is negligible body roll. This is a car you can enjoy driving with a little more spirit than your average compact SUV. Ride comfort and suspension compliance are every bit as good as an equivalent product from the Volkswagen Group. That is to say there is a near perfect balance between suspension compliance and handling, so that Sportage offers a comfortable ride over all road surfaces, but with sedan-like (I’m tempted to say sports sedan) cornering ability. For journeys off the beaten track, Sportage AWD variants are equipped with the new Dynamax on demand system. It’s a full-time and fully active system that apportions torque where it is needed during slippage, via an all-wheel drive coupling. In ‘lock’ mode, activated by a button on the right hand side of the steering wheel, torque is apportioned in a 50/50 ratio to the front and rear axles. Of course, in normal driving mode around town or on the freeway, the system reverts to front wheel drive for better fuel efficiency.

It’s also worth noting that the Dynamax unit has a high thermal capacity, which reduces the risk of overheating when driving on sand or towing. Safety on board the Sportage has been well catered for too with six airbags and armed with a five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP. Prospective buyers can take comfort in knowing that it also achieved the highest safety rating in its class in Europe. Other safety features include rollover sensors in the Electronic Stability Control, which are linked to the side curtain airbags, active head restraints and the highly useful Hill Start Assist Control and Downhill Brake Control. I can’t say that I was too concerned with my fuel economy during the week we had the test car (far too much fun to drive for that), but even so, my worst fuel consumption reading was 10.1L/100km and my best was 7.6L/100km, which is what the ADR figure states as a combined reading with 15-inch rims. I should add that my figures included just 50 highway kilometres.

Compact SUVs are generally not that exciting, and certainly not aspirational, but the Sportage CRDi breaks the mould wide open in great looks, performance and economy. Grade Engine Transmission Drive Price (RRP) Si 2.0L Petrol 5-Speed Man 2WD $26490 2.0LPetrol 6-Speed Auto 2WD $28490 SLi 2.4L Petrol 6-Speed Auto AWD $32490 2.0L Diesel 6-Speed Auto AWD $35990 Platinum 2.4L Petrol 6-Speed Auto AWD $36490 2.0L Diesel 6-Speed Auto AWD $39490 New Kia Sportage About Kia Email Save Kia Motors is a South Korean automaker that's relatively new to the United States. In its early years, Kia largely catered to budget-minded consumers with well-equipped vehicles priced below competing models. More recently, this growing brand has kept value a priority while also emphasizing technology and sportiness. Read more Kia history Kia Motors is a South Korean automaker that's relatively new to the United States.

In its early years, Kia largely catered to budget-minded consumers with well-equipped vehicles priced below competing models. More recently, this growing brand has kept value a priority while also emphasizing technology and sportiness. Founded in Korea in 1944, Kia started as a producer of steel tubing and bicycle parts. The company's name has its roots in the Chinese language, and means "to arise, to come up out of Asia." By the early 1950s, the company had produced Korea's first bicycle; by the latter part of the decade, Kia had branched out into motor scooters, with the rollout of the C100. The 1960s saw Kia expanding its lineup to include motorcycles and three-wheeled cargo vehicles. Naturally, the next logical step was automobile production, and the company began moving in this direction in the early 1970s. By 1973, Kia had built a facility designed to make its automotive dreams a reality; its Sohari plant held the distinction of being Korea's first fully integrated automobile production facility, and went on to spawn Korea's first internal-combustion gasoline engine.

A year later, Kia unveiled the Brisa, Korea's first passenger car. By the end of the decade, Kia's technology was being used to manufacture vehicles like the Peugeot 604 and the Fiat 132. By the late '80s, Kia's lineup included new models like the Concord, Capital, Potentia and Pride. In 1987, Ford brought the Pride to U.S. shores, rebadging it as the Ford Festiva. Seven years later, Ford dealers got a replacement for the entry-level, subcompact Festiva in the form of another Kia constructed product, the Aspire. Kia finally began selling vehicles in the U.S. under its own name in the early '90s, trumpeting its presence with the introduction of the compact Sephia. The car's rollout was gradual; in the early days of its production, the Sephia was only available in select Western states. By the mid-'90s, SUVs had emerged as a phenomenally popular and profitable vehicle segment. Kia responded with the 1995 Sportage, a compact SUV. By the end of the '90s, Kia's nationwide rollout was nearly complete.

Financial difficulties in the late '90s prevented Kia from expanding its lineup beyond those two models. Hyundai, South Korea's other major automaker, acquired the company in a merger in 1998. Kia has been on a major upswing since its purchase by Hyundai, with improvements in build quality, performance and overall refinement. Reliability, previously a weak point, has also improved markedly and consumers' confidence was further bolstered by Kia's substantial warranty program. Today, Kia is on a dramatic upswing and offers a broad lineup of well-built coupes, sedans and crossovers that stand out for their value, performance and sporty styling. Hide Kia History

Question: Which car manufacturer makes a model called the Sportage?
Answer: Kia